I came across ​Reddit thread​ this really caught my attention.

Someone asked, “What was the “one thing” that finally made weight loss work for you?”

There were 5,400 answers to this question (and counting).

Some answers related to environmental changes or changing the way food is prepared:

“Pouring snacks into little ramekins to eat. Suddenly I was eating a normal amount of snacks.”

“I prepared the meal according to my typical amount of food and instead of putting it into 2 containers, I divided it evenly among 4 containers. I forced myself to only eat 1 container per meal and tricked my brain into thinking that was my normal amount.

Others changed what they ate:

“I found a salad I really like. It sounds stupid, but I'd never had a craving for salad before, and having one that I actually liked meant I spent a solid few weeks eating a lot of lettuce - then it snowballed because I was really feeling good, and then I started craving it. feeling Good."

Some took a more holistic approach that involved re-evaluating their relationship with food, hunger and discomfort:

“Realizing that this is a lifestyle change, not a diet.”

“Embrace suffering. Expect to breathe hard and uncomfortable when doing cardio, expect to be sore after lifting weights, and expect to be hungry when you limit your intake.

Others used apps to track their calorie intake, which made them aware of how much they were eating:

“Using an app to track everything I ate. I realized that a lot of the "healthy" things I was eating, in the amounts I ate them, had a lot more calories than I thought. Just limiting certain foods did the trick.”

Some have achieved this with an initial injection of drugs:

“I went to the doctor about my type 2 diabetes. I weighed over 300 pounds and had coronary artery disease. I qualified for diabetes medications, which also help control my appetite. I started tracking my calories and exercising.”

"Semaglutide"

Some people prioritized physical activity instead of focusing on food:

“Finding a hobby. I ate because I was bored. Coming home from work and sitting on the couch would make it so much easier to eat shit... now I just go and do what I like so I won't be distracted by eating.

"Walking. Proof that I lost 45 pounds in 7 months just by walking around my neighborhood every night. It was free and low impact, I walked rain or shine, even through snow storms. Now I have a treadmill and walk indoors , but the feeling is still as great as at the beginning.

By going through this list, reading thousands of comments from people who wonder about the "one thing" that changed their lives and how many of them are different from each other, we can draw some fascinating conclusions.

3 short lessons we can learn

LESSON 1: “Success is going from failure to failure without losing enthusiasm.” -Winston Churchill.

The hardest part of recovery NO giving up hope when a tried and tested strategy doesn't work. I bet every person who shared their answer above has tried dozens of different strategies to try and get in shape. Hell, I bet they tried most things that worked on other people until they found the one that worked for them.

What can we learn from this: “There is hope ​a warrior's emotion that destroys cynicism​” and there's nothing wrong with hoping that each failed attempt means it's one less strategy you'll have to try in the future.

For example, if you've tried Keto 5 times and can't stick to it, congratulations! You found a diet that doesn't work for you.

If you can keep it ​"beta-test" mentality.​ like "I'll see if this works for me", you might just find the first domino you fall in love with your trip!

LESSON 2: Beware of the charlatan.

Spend enough time on social media and you will eventually encounter health and wellness charlatans. These are the people who say they are the only ones who have it one solution to all your problems. They often have a villain for all the evil in the world ("it's sugar! it's carbs! it's ingredient X!").

And sure enough, once they have instilled fear in you and scared the hell out of you, they will give you hope with their expensive, unregulated supplement or foolproof system.

As you can see in the examples above, there is no one-size-fits-all solution to this issue. Every person is a unique weirdo with different baggage, triggers, traumas and experiences that make certain solutions successful and others not a good idea.

You can read more about how to spot and avoid charlatans in my previous essay here: “​How not to go crazy on the Internet​"

Which brings me to my third point!

LESSON THREE: All fitness stories have 3 boring things in common!

While all of these "one" solutions to getting in shape are different, they all have a few similarities.

Good news? None of this is revolutionary, proprietary or fancy.

Being fit literally comes down to 3 things:

• Eat the appropriate number of calories for your target weight
• Getting some form of physical exercise
• Make these two things part of a lifelong lifestyle adjustment.

Losing weight is not magic. It's math and behavior change.

As I cover in mine ​weight loss guide​science is settled on this.

Any diet can work if it puts us in a calorie deficit. We have ​coaching clients​ who are vegan, others who go Keto, some who count calories and others who do intermittent fasting.

Our ability to turn dietary changes into a lifestyle we can live with is the path to success, and this is different for everyone.

When it comes to lifestyle changes, most of the answers above also apply to finding ways to make exercise a regular part of your life.

Remember: it's okay if you don't like exercising. We are not designed to love exercise! Especially if it's an activity that we don't really enjoy! We were created to survive in times of scarcity, NOT to thrive in times of unlimited abundance.

So how can we incorporate physical activity into our lifestyle?

We have to find ways to do this ​make exercise enjoyable, beneficial, or necessary​: :

• Game: join a walking/running club with friends, give it a try ​combining temptations​.
• Beneficial: fall in love ​getting stronger​ and more confident and how much better you feel after exercising.
• Necessary: prepayment for the trainer, parking at the end of the parking lot, commuting to work by bike.

Remember that hope is a warrior's emotion.

We humans are incredibly adaptable and changeable creatures.

Try different strategies, beware of charlatans and don't forget the basics!

And soon, one day, you too will be able to throw the first domino to fall that will change everything for you.

-Steve

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